Almunia’s Re-Upped, But…

By: Abby | April 3rd, 2008

So at least one of Arsenal’s main performers this year has renewed his contract. Unfortunately for my liking, it’s Manuel Almunia and not Mathieu Flamini. Almunia says he wants to finish his career at Arsenal, which is fine. He’s been fine. Better than I expected since taking over the starting spot, but I continue to be not entirely unconvinced. I’ll admit that it may be because I’m a definite fangirl of Jens Lehmann and it would take a lot for me to forsake that in honor of the bleached one, but I don’t think that Almunia is really championship-winning class. He’s done all right, though, and to be fair no other Premier League keeper has been much better.

Which perhaps is why Arsenal is looking at other leagues for a goalkeeper to rival Almunia next season. Gregory Coupet is a nearly too obvious link, as he’s French and all, but also pretty awesome. While he’s not young by any means, Lehmann wasn’t young when he came to Arsenal either. So it’s definitely plausible, and could even make sense- we’ve got a talented-yet-raw goalkeeper in Łukasz Fabiański, and a few years with Coupet until he’s ready is not out of the realms of possibility. But Wenger doesn’t often do what’s obvious, does he?

The other name that’s come up recently is, surprisingly, an American. Apparently we’re in for Brad Guzan, along with Aston Villa. Now, Brad Guzan is young, and talented. And, as an American, I’d be pretty psyched to have one of ours on the team. If there’s one thing we can do to a high standard, it’s goalkeepers. Even if Guzan comes in as Almunia’s backup, I’d enjoy it.

The non-goalkeeper link that has me a bit flummoxed is the one to Werder Bremen’s Diego. Now, as a fan of the Bundesliga, I absolutely adore Diego. It’s impossible to watch the Bundesliga with any regularity and not adore Diego. He’s fantastic. An utter joy to watch, extremely talented, cute as a button. And while I’d definitely want him at Arsenal when he leaves Bremen, I have to ask…where on Earth would he go? He’s a clever, talented, creative central midfielder, which is something we have a lot of. Cesc, for example, is a talented, creative central midfielder. As is everyone barring Walcott and Eboue we’ve played on the wing this season. And while Diego is definitely more of a scoring midfielder than anyone we’ve got, I don’t think he would be useful to us unless it’s to give Cesc a rest. And Diego is not about to leave to sit on anyone’s bench. As much as it pains me to even have a mental refusal on Diego, I can’t help but think the money for him would be better spent on, say, Robinho.

But, damn it, if he ends up at Madrid I’ll be distressed.